1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an object detection method and system and, more particularly, to an object detection method and system for a vehicle which uses a three dimensional laser rangefinder to detect and track both stationary and moving objects in the vicinity of the vehicle, providing a source of input for downstream vehicle control applications.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Many modern vehicles include a variety of sophisticated electronic systems for safety and navigation assistance. In some vehicles, these systems include object detection and adaptive cruise control systems, which can alert a driver to an obstacle near the vehicle, or even control the vehicle's brakes or steering to maintain a safe distance to another vehicle or object. However, object detection systems known in the art and available on the market have limitations in terms of how well they can detect and track objects, and how reliably the object data can be used for vehicle control purposes.
Most object detection systems available in vehicles today utilize radar or camera-based vision technology. These systems often have problems distinguishing between objects in cluttered environments typically found in realistic driving situations. They may be able to detect the two dimensional shape of an object, but not be able to determine the object's height, thus unable to determine if the object is actually a feature of the ground or road surface. Or they may be able to detect the presence of objects, but unable to distinguish between closely spaced objects based on relative velocity or three dimensional characteristics. Finally, existing radar or camera-based object detection systems may completely fail to detect some objects, due to a lack of reflectivity or lack of color differentiation of the objects.
A need exists for a reliable and robust object detection system—one which can distinguish objects from each other and from the ground plane, which can reliably track both the position and velocity of detected objects relative to the ground and relative to the host vehicle, and which can perform these tasks in the cluttered environment of real-world driving. Such a system could enable a significant breakthrough in the development of advanced vehicle systems, such as semi-autonomous driving systems.